Embodying STEM in the Dance Makerspace: Shifting STEM Thinking and Attitudes Through Transformative Embodied Experiences

• In Event: 66.031 - Promoting STEM Learning and Engagement Through Rich Technological Experiences

Abstract

Education researchers and philosophers as far back as John Dewey have argued that learning should enrich and enhance our everyday experiences and expand our thinking about the world. Dewey (1938) believed in the power of ideas and experience, and that certain types of experiences are transformative, they have the power to change ones' relationship with the world (Pugh, 2011). The call for more STEM in education has the potential to shape future generations, drive new innovations and expand opportunities; however, its power has not been realized in many communities of color because children are often limited by their experiences with and ideas about STEM. Children from marginalized urban communities, with limited access to quality educational experiences and resources, often feel disconnected from the typical STEM-college-workforce narrative and disengage from STEM educational activities because they do not feel it connects with their experiences, ideas, or possible futures (Oakes, 1990; Barton, Rivet, & Tan, 2008; Simpkins & Jacobs, 2005). Providing quality opportunities for STEM learning for them requires not only thinking about what and how they should be learning, but also designing experiences that shift their relationships to STEM and show them the utility of science, technology, engineering and math. It requires transformative experiences that allow them to learn STEM in new ways and perceive STEM differently.

This paper examines an environment designed to support STEM engagement through embodied experiences for a group of African American youth dancers. Across four summers, 30 youth (ages 9-16) participated in a 4-week camp that challenged them to combine dance-making and technology by working in groups to choreograph projects that explained science phenomena using kid-friendly electronic elements (i.e. LED lights, Arduino boards, conductive clay), and other tools and materials. The design intentionally privileged participants' familiar ways of knowing as dancers and positioned science content, practices, and technology as useful tools to help them engage in the creative work they were interested in doing. Building on theoretical perspectives from experiential-interactionist literature and transactional understandings of epistemology (Stevens, 2012; Hall, 1996; Streeck, Goodwin, LeBaron, 2011; Wickman, 2006) to explore children’s sense-making in this context, the analyses focus on how children made sense of content and on their transformed attitudes and ideas about the utility and value of STEM as they created dance/STEM representations.

Data include video excerpts from group project work in the dance makerspace, and individual pre- and post-interviews to understand how youth experienced STEM in this context: how they learned about and with science and technology, and how their experiences in the dance makerspace led to shifts in STEM thinking, practices, engagement, behavior and attitudes. I present examples of transformative embodied learning experiences and show how fostering these experiences enriched and expanded participants’ relationships to STEM and led them to authentic engagement with STEM. I conclude with a discussion of the affordances and challenges of designing STEM experiences that spark the imagination and involve the full spectrum of resources youth bring to the table (the body, other tools and materials, various practices).

Author

• Dionne N Champion, TERC